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Jeffrey Davies's police role was to help domestic abuse victims

A South Wales Police detective who sexually assaulted two women while on duty has been jailed for three years.

Jeffrey Davies, 42, who was a family liaison officer for victims of domestic violence, was found guilty at Swansea Crown Court of two sexual assaults which took place in 2010.

His trial heard how both of the women he attacked in Merthyr Tydfil were domestic abuse victims.

Davies was also ordered to be listed on the sex abuse register indefinitely.

The judge said Davies's actions were a "gross betrayal" of his role as a police officer.

Police watchdog the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is investigating how the complaints were handled by the force.

During the trial, the jury heard how Davies had been appointed as a family liaison officer with the force to help victims of domestic violence.

You took advantage and preyed upon vulnerable women for your own sexual endsJudge Paul Thomas

But he used the position to try and persuade them to have sex with him.

The court heard how during the first attack, he rubbed the leg of a woman who had complained of domestic abuse while they discussed the issue during a car journey.

A victim impact statement was read aloud by prosecutor John Hipkin.

In it she said: "What this man has done to me has traumatised me psychologically.

"I now panic if I see a male police officer in the street.

"I always thought of myself as a strong person, but what this man did to me has shattered my confidence."

'Gross betrayal'

The court was told that during the second attack, on another woman who had asked for help after suffering domestic abuse, Davies forced her hand against his groin after he interviewed her, before asking her for oral sex.

In her statement the woman said: "I was angry and shocked after it happened.

"I did not think anybody would believe me because he was a policeman."

During sentencing, Judge Paul Thomas told Davies: "The sexual assaults you perpetrated on these women were a gross betrayal of your position as a police officer.

"You took advantage and preyed upon vulnerable women for your own sexual ends.

"You targeted them as you viewed them as women who would obviously not have the confidence to complain or be believed if they did.

"You have not showed even a scintilla of remorse.

"Prison will prove difficult due to your status as a former police officer, but my ultimate duty is to redress the public's confidence in the integrity of the legal system."

Misconduct

South Wales Police's Assistant Chief Constable Richard Lewis said now that sentence had been passed, gross misconduct proceedings against Davies would be taken forward.

He added: "His actions were a gross abuse of position and power which will not be tolerated within policing.

"The thorough and determined investigation carried out by South Wales Police and managed by the IPCC demonstrates our determination to tackle behaviour of this kind."

Following Davies's conviction earlier in August, the IPCC said it had investigated the way his line managers had dealt with allegations and two senior detectives were facing gross misconduct hearings.